10 Degrees South

Sailing on the Timor sea to Indonesia

We are very near the equator now and the days are hot, humid, and without rain. The blog needs to evolve to a new theme as we are no longer in the South Pacific, but rather in the Indian ocean. Slow Dance left Papal New Guinea at 9 PM. Quite relieved to be gone from the yacht club and away from Port Moresby. One week seemed like a month. Seven days at sea with 20-25 knots of wind for the first 3 days out of Port Moresby making for good sailing with rough seas. We anchored in the Taurus Straights the third night so the crew could have a nights rest before continuing on to Kupang. It was strange to be in the middle of the ocean anchored in 30 feet of water! The straight is wide but very shallow in places; 5 feet deep in certain areas. We followed the shipping route and at times there were as many as 15-20 ships on the horizon. On day 4 we entered the Timor sea, where the water was flat and the days scorching hot. We had to motor the entire time as there had not been so much as a puff of wind, not even a breeze to cool us down. A pod of dolphins followed the boat for 2 days, playing with the bow and entertaining us with their antics. We stopped the boat and jumped into the water  hoping the dolphins would play with us but they kept their distance. We didn't worry so much about sharks, because when there are dolphins there are no sharks. We hoped the swim would cool us off but the water was unpleasantly warm. Isi saw a great white swimming by the boat 2 days earlier when we were in the straight. The Australian waters are shark infested, especially in the Straights. Unfortunately, we watched a really bad Australian movie just before entering the straight, called "The Reef". A true story that takes place in the very sea's we were in. 5 people making a delivery of a 42 foot sail boat hit a reef and capsize. The boat is upside down in the water and one man stays on top of the boat refusing to get into the water because of sharks. Just prior to hitting the reef and capsizing the boat, these retarded people had gone ashore in the dingy for a snorkel on a small deserted island and proceed to hit a small reef at low tide on the way back to the boat, subsequently tearing a huge hole in the dingy rendering it useless. Their life raft is trapped inside the capsized boat and the emergency rescue device doesn't work. They are not more then 10 miles from land so 4 people (2 men and 2 women) decide to swim for it. The remainder of the film is about them getting eaten by great whites. We hit the fast forward button to spare ourselves all the drama. Only 1 of the women makes it to land but the last man gets eaten as he is trying to make it to the rocks after helping her up. The end of the film states that the boat and the guy left behind were never found and the female survivor was rescued after 2 days on the rocks. Needless to say we were NOT anxious to get in the water until we were in the Timor sea surrounded by dolphins and even then I was not tempted to swim to far from the boat! The evening sunsets were spectacular and we had a full October moon.

Sunset over the Timor Sea

We were 24 hours from Kupang, Indonesia, and nearly out of fuel. If we ran out of fuel it would have taken several days more to reach Kupang without the wind. In addition, we broke 2 belts on the main engine and only had one belt to replace them with. To much strain on the replacement belt would cause it to break, so we would have been in the same position of sailing with no wind. Good thing luck was with us.

We met other yachts that had sailed around Papal New Guinea and had wondrous things to say about the villages and unspoiled parts of the island. Unfortunately, we experienced only Port Morseby and the yacht club, where Americans and Europeans are not well accepted.

Huli Wig-man. This is the New Guinea I wanted to see.

Ron and Brian at Brian's Real Estate office

Armed guards at the gas station!

Cute girl at the local market.

 Brian Hull is 74 and has lived here for 50 years. Brian is from Tasmania originally and is the person that Ron obtained our slip from. Ron, being the entertaining guy he is, amused Brain, so we were invited to lunch, that very afternoon, as Brian's guest. Brian loaded Ron and I into his new 4-door Ford truck and as we passed through the gates of the club, we were met with life outside the yacht club. The Chinese restaurant was a modest establishment behind a gate guarded by 6 security men who let us through the gate. After lunch Brian took us to his office (also behind a guarded fence) Century 21, where he has made a fortune in the Real Estate market. At age 19, Brain was a patrol officer, walking through New Guinea, on foot, taking a census for the Australian government. What must that have been like? Amazing life this man has had. At 74, he commands a large staff of employees; some at work, some who drive for him, and those that look after his boat, meals, morning coffee, etc... Brian never married but has raised some locals as his children, educating them at private Australian schools. He now has a number of grandchildren that he does the same for. We spent an afternoon on his boat motoring out to Fishermen s island, with him and his grand-kids, who were all beautiful and well educated. Several were going to college in Australia. 

 Port Morseby is the capitol of Papua New Guinea, not a good representative of the country and no place to explore as a new comer. Our cruising guide states if one traveled to the more remote areas of the island, you would find lovely safe villages, where the people want to lavish you with fresh fruits and vegetables. Port Morseby is considered the second most dangerous city in the world. I was told that Nigerian cities hold the number one spot. Port Morsby beats out Baghdad, Detroit, and East LA! After a week at sea we arrived at dawn in the bay outside Port Morseby. Our cruising guide warned of "Raschels" throughout the city that grab purses and even board your yacht as you sleep to steal your dinghy engine and any thing else not nailed down. Ron went ashore to the yacht club and procured a slip for Slow Dance, which guaranteed protection from any thievery. If your boat is anchored outside the yacht club's small bay, you are certain to be robbed. Our first clue about this place, was the fact that the yacht club has 29  guards on duty. Brian say's the situation has grown worse over the years as the "Raschels" now carry guns. We met a young man from north Ireland that run's a security business (good business to have here in this city) He was driving by one of the not so safe villages inside the city one evening and another car hit him on purpose causing his car to roll over. He was dragged out of his truck and his wallet taken. A good villager pulled him up the hill and he escaped. When he returned with the police 45 minutes later his truck was stripped. There are over 1 million people living in the city and only 200,000 have jobs. The average wage is 50 cents US an hour. $30.00 US a week is the average wage. The people are starving so they turn to crime. The Australians that live here are very wealthy and an average rental is $3000-$5000 US a week! All houses are behind gates with razor wire. We met another Australian who has lived in the city for 40 years and he and his wife are robbed twice a month at their home. He said he just keeps $200.00 Kina on him at all times to hand over to the robbers. There are 4 men to every woman. Guns are everywhere and the bad guys put up fake roadblocks to stop cars. One wealthy woman Ron and I went to dinner with told us she has had her car window shot out as she went around such a road block. That happened in broad daylight. Two young women were recently stopped in separate incidences at a road blocks and dragged from their car, taken to a shack and gang rapped for several days. One woman worked for the Australian Embassy which has their largest embassy here. We couldn't figure out why anyone would want to live in such a place but alot of folks have gotten rich from New Guinea. The gap between the have's and have not's is very wide.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth. According to recent data, 841 different languages are listed for the country, although 11 of these have no known living speakers.  There may be at least as many traditional societies, out of a population of about 6.2 million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18 percent of its people live in urban centers.  The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea. The country's geography is diverse and, in places, extremely rugged. A spine of mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, runs the length of the island of New Guinea, forming a populous highlands region mostly covered with tropical rainforest, and the long Papuan Peninsula, known as the 'Bird's Tail'. Dense rainforests can be found in the lowland and coastal areas as well as very large wetland areas surrounding the Sepik and Fly rivers. This terrain has made it difficult for the country to develop transportation infrastructure. In some areas, airplanes are the only mode of transport.  The highest peak is Mount Wilhelm at 4,509 metres (14,793 ft). Papua New Guinea is surrounded by coral reefs which are under close watch, in the interests of preservation.The country is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the point of collision of several tectonic plates. There are a number of active volcanoes, and eruptions are frequent. Earthquakes are relatively common, sometimes accompanied by tsunamis. The mainland of the country is the eastern half of New Guinea island, where the largest towns are also located, including the capital Port Moresby and Lae; other major islands within Papua New Guinea include New Ireland, New Britain, Manus and Bougainville.Papua New Guinea is one of the few regions close to the equator that experience snowfall, which occurs in the most elevated parts of the mainland.

We entered Indonesia at  Kupang, and what a delight to be amongst such lovely people. Most of the people of Indonesia are Muslim, but the island of Bali, where we are now is primarily Hindu.

Boys on the beach when we landed in Kupang. They watched our dingy for us while we went to town.

Fruit stand in Bali. The watermelon was seedless and the best I have ever eaten.

Isi and I gave ourselves a facial at sea. We look like savage natives!

Isi at the Kupang market

Market in Kupang

This man opted for an afternoon break from selling rice and oil.

 Kupang was impoverished and the market was very dirty. We took a long cab ride to the large supermarket in town and were shocked to find very few fruits and veggies. There were a few hotels and youth hostels and lots of banks. This was a place for young backpackers adventuring on foot to rural villages in the interior of the island. The people were amazingly friendly and I felt safe at all times. Refreshing after being in Port Morseby. We hired an agent to clear us into Indonesia and her counterpart in Kupang was a man named Napa. He arrived at Slow Dance in a primitive dug out canoe with a young boy who constantly bailed out the water that was rushing into the small boat. I was a bit concerned but Napa turned out to be super professional and a really great guy. He had 5 books signed by all the yachts he has help clear into Kupang over the past 12 years. It was great reading them. Napa helped clear us with Quarantine and Customs, and in this part of the world, officials expect some type of bribe to make things go smoothly. A bottle of cheap vodka and $50.00 US dollars did the trick! Isi 's passport was due to expire in March 2013 and most countries require at least 6 months to enter. Another $50.00 allowed her to enter and travel with us to Bali, which she was very happy about. Isi will have 30 days and then she will have to return to Fiji to renew her passport. I hope she gets to come back and join Slow dance in Thailand.

Cute boys in the Kupang market. They tried to get in every photo.

On route to the marina in Bali

So Slow Dance has arrived to Bali and I can't wait for Ron to fly in so we can explore this magical place.